High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of pholedrine in human serum using ion-pair extraction and amperometric detection.

The method for the quantitation of pholedrine in human serum involves extraction of the sample with benzene utilizing an ion-pairing reagent, bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid, and re-extraction into diluted phosphoric acid. Analysis is carried out on a ODS reversed-phase column with heptanesulfonate as the ion-pairing reagent. The procedure allows quantitation at the lower nanogram level and is useful for pharmacokinetic investigations.